Over the past two weeks I’ve received two rejections for short stories. The first was for Southern Gothic magazine, and I admit that the story was only gothic in the vaguest sense and it was probably a shot in the dark. However, the editor responded at great length—the letter was nearly 800 words long—and was highly complimentary of my writing. He then proceeded to show me how the story could be made more gothic, but left it up to me to decide whether I wanted to tackle the story along the line of his suggestions. He didn’t promise to publish it if I did, but he seemed inclined to look at it again. I haven’t read his comments in detail yet—I’ve been busy catching up since getting home from vacation—but I might consider it.
The second rejection was for a themed anthology, and this was a case where I wrote the story specifically for the market, so the rejection stung more than usual. The editor told me it was a tough, close call and that the story reminded her of a Twilight Zone episode (in a good way, she hastened to say, lest there be any misunderstanding). She also asked me to let her know when (not if) it finds another home because she would consider reprinting it if her publisher decided to do a companion volume sometime down the road. I only got the story to her on the day of the deadline—there’s a chance that if I’d gotten it in sooner it might have made the cut. Lessons learned, though I don’t think I could have finished the tale any sooner than I did. It was a miracle I got it done on time at all.
Have to do some serious revisions for the story I was working on before vacation. The editor suggested a substantial number of cuts and a little smoothing in places. I’ve only glanced at his notes so far, but I think he wants me to cut more than I want to cut, so this might turn into a negotiation. My first reader really enjoyed the story but the editor thinks there’s too much detail. That will be my weekend work, in addition to finishing a review of James Lee Burke’s Tin Roof Blowdown for Onyx. I also have to think about my essay for Storytellers Unplugged, which is due a week from Monday.
No big surprise that Jessica went out the door on Big Brother 8 last night, but if Eric had come up with HoH or POV, the second eviction might not have been so predictable. Twill be interesting to see how things shake out with the final four. If it ends up with Dick and Danielle as the final two, it may well be the most boring finale in reality TV history. However, if it ends up with Jameka and Zach it could be very interesting as neither one has distinguished his or herself during their tenure in the house and Jameka essentially slit her own throat with the five-week hiatus from HoH competitions. If she survives that and wins, it will be a coup of monumental proportions.
